One of Australian television's most esteemed gentlemen, and gentle man, the Nine Network sportscaster Ken Sutcliffe, has confirmed he will retire. Sutcliffe has worked in the media for five decades and chalked up a stunning 37 years with the Nine Network. His gigs at Nine include Wide World of Sports, Today and Nine News; he also co-hosted Coast to Coast with the legendary Graham Kennedy. Cameron Williams will replace Sutcliffe as Nine's main sports news anchor. Sutcliffe said in a statement his focus would now be travelling with his wife, Anne. Sutcliffe's colleague, news presenter Peter Overton, said he would miss his "warmth, friendship, sparkling smile and laugh".

Third time lucky?

Australia is to compete on the Eurovision stage for a third time at the 62nd annual Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Kyiv, Ukraine, in May, 2017. (That's Kiev, for the over-40s.) Though our geographic position relative to Europe is still the subject of some debate, Australia's track record is formidable: Guy Sebastian came in fifth place in 2014, and Dami Im in second in 2015. A third wild card into competition, SBS managing director Michael Ebeid said, was "testament not only to [Dami's] amazing singing prowess but the humbling way the European community has embraced our entry into the competition". The competition telecast on SBS is one of the channel's highest-rating events. The 2017 Eurovision semi-finals will be held on May 9 and 11; the grand final will be held on Saturday, May 13.

What's in store for 2017 

The ABC has announced a raft of new productions for 2017, including new drama series Newton's Law, starring Claudia Karvan as a "suburban solicitor with an over-developed sense of responsibility", Seven Types of Ambiguity, a multi-perspective mystery starring Hugo Weaving, Xavier Samuel and Alex Dimitriades and The Warriors, a comedy-drama about two Indigenous footballers, starring Lisa McCune. The ABC also announced second seasons for its critically acclaimed dramas Cleverman and Glitch, a third season for Janet King, starring Marta Dusseldorp, and a fifth season for The Doctor Blake Mysteries, starring Craig McLachlan.

ABC's comedy capers

Meanwhile, the national broadcaster has also announced a raft of new comedy content for both the ABC channel and the iView streaming platform. Following a pilot episode that was commissioned as part of the Comedy Showroom series, Ronnie Chieng: International Student is returning as a full-blown series of six half-hour episodes, featuring The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng. The ABC has also commissioned a series of short-form comedies for the iView platform, including Lost in Pronunciation, starring comedian Ivan Aristeguieta, Edge of the Bush, created by award-winning comedian Anne Edmonds, Goober, starring Brendan Williams as an overly friendly Uber driver and Almost Midnight, a "coming-of-age romantic comedy" created by Stephen Banham.